Advice sought - which woodworking related ads motivate you - electronic or print?

[scsmith42]

Thanks all for your input. I'm seeing some common themes in the feedback thus far.

1 - create some strategic alliances with "high visibility" woodworkers that can use my product
2 - don't waste the $ on the print ads, but instead seek the opportunity to be featured in some articles or blogs.
3 - focus on increasing and fine tuning an internet presence.

Many, many thanks for the great input.

Scott

 

[CarvedTones]

Scott,
I also rarely read ads in print or on line. My 'trained eye' can zip right past them. There area very few that catch my eye, usually something NOT related to their product it seems....

There was an interesting article on what it is that draws people to ads and there is a company that uses eye movement (only from people that sign up and calibrate their web cams; this is not something they sneak on machines) to see what is eye catching in an ad. If you don't read the article, at least scroll down to see the first example ad and the report. They color it like a weather report showing rain to show where eyes went the most.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertisin...sers-watch-users-via-webcam-as-they-surf/8967

It appears that you might want to have something besides wood in a picture... :rotflm:

 

[Bas]

My $.0002 (micro ad payment):

• I think people underestimate the impact of advertisement. If ads don't make an impact, business wouldn't be paying for them. We all claim we don't read them and aren't influenced by them, yet I have this unexplained craving for a delicious Foobar right now.
• Advertisement has two primary purposes: Awareness (Scott sells XXX) and Distinction (Scott sells XXX that's better/ cheaper/ more convenient). In specialized fields, awareness alone is huge.
• You can throw money at a problem and buy lots of ads everywhere, or you can selectively advertise and see what works. This is why companies always want to know "How did you hear about us?". But that takes time, effort and expertise.
• Figure out your brand. What do you want to be known for? Are you focused on wholesale or retail? Who is your typical customer? Who do you want your typical customer to be (or need to be in order to be profitable)? Once you know that, you can pick your advertisement strategy
• There's a difference between marketing and advertising
• Mailing lists are invaluable

I have no idea where you want to take your lumber business. You can certainly sell to hobby/ semi-professional woodworkers in small quantities on a consistent basis, but you're much more set up for a wholesale business. Or even custom orders. Woodworking magazines are nation wide, and shipping lumber is only really viable (a) if your price is low enough to offset shipping (b) the product is unique enough people are willing to pay for shipping. This is why pets.com went under. Also, small quantities for consumers means a lot of overhead on order taking, packaging, customer service etc. For the wholesale business, I'd advertise in trade magazines ("Cabinet Makers Monthly", "Builders Journal". Yes, made up titles, I'm not in this business).

Advertising via Google is a pretty sure bet. You have good control over the keywords, you can figure out what works, and it will help determine your customer base.

 

[James Anderson Jr]

I guess I am an odd ball; I love the adds in mags because it showcases a company or item I might not have otherwise known about. I am very skeptical of clicking on add links, and will often google reviews of a site before I follow a link from google search to it. If I heard on say rough-cut I got this nice slab from xyz.com I would be inclined to check them out and bookmark the site for future reference.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Scott, have you looked at http://www.woodshopnews.com/
I still get their printed mag.

 

[merrill77]

I do look at ads in my WW magazines, but only the larger ads that are interspersed with the articles. I skip right past the advertising sections at the end. If I'm looking for something specific, then right to google.

My company gets nearly all our initial sales through Google. Your search ranking is important - and this is a relatively difficult thing to do well.

It sounds like you want to sell to a particular niche. If that niche was, for example, selling guitar body blanks, then you would want to figure what search terms guitar builders use to search. You would want to frequent guitar-building forums. Ideally, you would be a guitar player and build your own guitar...or partner with someone who fits the bill. Then showcase the guitar on the forums and mention "BTW, you can get beautiful wood like this from me". If there are prominent, respected builders on the forum, you might give them some blanks, gratis, and hope that they build a beautiful guitar and give you a mention.

Note that print advertising can be very effective if you can reach your target customers effectively AND create an ad that really works. In the above example, a luthiers magazine could be very effective. "Guitar Player weekly", not so much (what percentage of players builds their own?...not many).

Find a way to get potential customers to subscribe to a newsletter, so you can touch them frequently with news and special deals. Use lots of pictures, if relevant. People respond to visuals more than text.

And of course, be sure you know what your selling angle is. It is low price? Great service? excellent quality? It can't be all three...and few companies manage two of the three. Pick one and focus on it.

This isn't really what you asked, but I highly recommend the book Four Steps to the Epiphany by Stephen Blank, about customer development. His examples are based on the software industry, but the theory applies to nearly any business. The first five chapters are an excellent read (I haven't finished it yet).

Just my 2c
Chris

 

[ashley_phil]

we are getting tangible results from ads on lumbermans exchange but that's about it right now for print ads, not sure how an ad there would fit your business model.

i should also ad that on you website you want to have a testimonial section and a gallery of work done with your products.